When were you last suprised by joy?

Aaah, but that is the ticket, isn't it? In order to truly experience joy-a spontaneous emotion-we must allow ourselves to be in a position to be surprised. If we do not define or expect/anticipate them, joy and happiness come to grace us so much more often.

I like to keep close at hand sayings to remind me about the nature of things.

Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. -Nathaniel Hawthorne

Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. -Tolstoy

The very action of wishing for, anticipating, looking for certain things make immediately impossible their attainment.

By the nature of the action, to seek a thing is to put that object beyond your grasp. -Strike a Chord of Silence, CG Walters

When we are perpetually focused on the moment, not looking too far from the moment, one is more in a position for surprises. I am always laughing at myself (when I stumble onto this condition), and telling Kathy, "I am a simple man; it does not take much to make me happy."

Joy is not in things, it is in us.-Richard Wagner

As far as a personal experience of happiness rising unexpectedly and making me giddy with joy-I work outside and am a person who becomes depressed by too much sun (am still working on letting that illusion go). One week recently, I awoke to a 48 degree Fahrenheit morning. The entire summer day was crisp and dry. The temp never made 70 degrees Fahrenheit. There were beautiful clouds moving across the sky all day. I was in a state of delight all day long. I so enjoyed the experience that the impact stayed with me for days after the temps moved upward again.